Introduction
Work ethics are important not only to organizations, but also to the employees. In every organization, there are set values that should be followed by all the employees when carrying out their duties. These values are based on diligence and hard work to help individual employees as well as the whole organization to meet set objectives.
One of the important principles in the work place is honesty where workers are supposed to exercise truth in all their undertakings. Employees are required to tell the truth to their seniors, fellow employees, customers, and other stakeholders of the organization.
Thus, the ability of an employee to remain honest is very important in the work place for it will determine the position of an employee in a given organization. Promotions, duty assignments and other responsibilities are determined by the ability of the employee to tell the truth.
Honesty will also play a crucial role in the success of an individual employee in their professional. This paper will analyze the policy of honesty in the work place and in business using the case of Vic who has developed a character of dishonesty in what he does.
Honesty in work place
As the old adage goes âhonesty is the best policyâ, people are required to be honest in all their personal dealings. In the work or business environment, this policy applies more than in anywhere else. All stakeholders are required to tell the truth in written and oral communications as well in their relationships with other people whom they deal with.
Honesty, as policy, is expected at all levels of an organization right from the executives to the junior employees. This policy is expected when employees/businesspeople are dealing with their customers, suppliers, other stakeholders and even amongst themselves.
Many organizations have an honesty policy where honesty is one of the guiding principles that lead organizations in their endeavors to achieve set goals and objectives. Employees handling information in the organization such as accountants and internal auditors ought to demonstrate the policy of honesty in all their records.
Financial reports of the company should be based on this policy and no falsehood or misrepresentation ought to be found in the reports. Employees at all levels are required to tell the truth in all their dealings. For instance, the time they report to work, when they leave the workplace, time off and in any other case.
In the case study, Vic seems to have already developed a habit of telling white lies twisted with numerous excuses not only in the work place, but also in his house. At home, Vic makes promises to his wife and children, which he does not keep.
In all his words and actions, he is always telling lies; no wonder he is surprised by the straightforward answers from his wife. In the workplace, he is not honest to his fellow employees and customers.
For instance, in the workplace, he is just looking for excuses to avoid his responsibilities; he blames poor network connectivity, lost voice mail and other excuses for his failure to produce client letters. He also tries to trick his boss in several instances as away of avoiding his rightful responsibilities.
His lack of moral values has affected his rise in career; dishonesty stands in the way of his promotion because unknowingly to him, his dishonesty has greatly contributed to poor performance.
Honesty plays an important role in assessing the performance of an employee in any organization since it forms a part of the evaluation criteria for promotion. Senior managers tend to develop confidence and trust to the honest employees.
These employees are left in charge of different areas when the senior managers are not present and this can only happen if they are honest and trustable. The same policy will also apply when dealing with promotion within the organization; therefore, dishonest employees, such Vic, stand minimal chances of promotion since they cannot be trusted with any responsibility such as leadership.
Though academic qualification had earned Vic a position as a manager in the middle level, he did not show any performance worth the position thus making him to shift to another company where he felt he could perform well. Unfortunately, he did not know that moving from one company to another would not solve the problem since he was the problem and not the company.
Honesty in business
Honesty is one the business ethics that play an important role in the success of any business. Many successful entrepreneurs have used the secret of honesty to win favor of their customers from their competitors. On the other hand, many businesses have failed due to lack of customers as result of dishonest dealings in their business.
In business, it is so easy to compromise the principle of honesty in a bid to gain quick financial gain. This vice happens as businesspersons fail to keep their words to suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders.
Many business transactions are carried out on credit basis and it is therefore paramount for businesspersons to keep their words to their suppliers who supply them with goods and services on credit basis. Customers would also like to deal with honest sellers.
Honesty in the prices, quantity, and quality of the goods and services is crucial to the customers. Indeed, customers would like to deal with a person whom they know will give them the true value of their money. Businesses that have managed to practice the honesty policy not only in words, but also in actions, have won favor of many customers.
Customers will always feel bad when cheated or conned by sellers in any transaction. For instance, Vic was selling insurance policies to the customers and before buying those policies, customers had to be convinced that they were worth their money.
Practicing dishonesty in such cases would drive potential customers away since honesty is one of the principles of insurance. Insurance companies, more than any other business, require the virtue of honesty to win the favor of the customers.
The fact that cases of dishonesty, through conning and hyping, have increased does not mean that the customers have gotten used to this vice; in fact, customers have been continually running away from any business they know or even think is not honest in its practices.
On the other hand, many businesses have won many customers just because of making honesty one of their core values in their undertakings. Businesses in areas such health care, insurance, and banking among others are required to practice high level of honesty in order for customers to build their trust on them.
Conventionally, no level of dishonesty is acceptable in any business. Companies should adopt honesty as one of their policy if they want to succeed in the competitive market place. When customers discover any hint of dishonesty in a certain business, they just run away and rebuilding their trust once more would be costly to the business.
For instance, when customers realize that a given insurance company does not keep its word at time of compensation in case of any loss, then customers will lose their confidence with the company and look for other companies that practice honesty in their transactions.
This will make the company lose both current and potential customers. On the other hand, an insurance company that compensates its customers in case of any loss as stipulated in its policies will not only retain its current customers but also attract more potential customers.
This principle will apply in all types of businesses since customers are always dissatisfied with businesses that do not keep their promises. In addition, banks that charge customersâ higher rates than they have provided in their advertisements or even cheat a customer about his or her outstanding balance will lose their customers once they discover that the bank is not straightforward in its transactions.
Business ethics
Several business ethics are essential in any business in addition to honesty, which should be insisted to the company leaders and employees. Actually, business ethics ought to be the guiding principle as companies strive to achieve set profit objectives.
Integrity goes hand in hand with honesty and all leaders and staffs are expected to be accountable for their actions. Every office has job descriptions to guide any person who holds it and therefore, each person should act in line with what is stipulated in his or her job descriptions.
For instance, the memorandum of association of different companies defines the powers, rights, and responsibilities of the senior executives such as directors, CEO, and seniors managers, meaning that these leaders ought to be held accountable for every decision they make in the company.
Integrity should be their guiding principle and cases of dishonesty such as misrepresentation of financial reports should not be heard of in both public and private companies. Quality service is another core value in business where entrepreneurs ought to provide those services that will meet the needs of their clients.
Businesses should be committed to provide superior services that are sensitive to the satisfaction of their customers. Teamwork is another necessary core value in the success of any organization. Every employee should strive to work in concert with other employees in an effort to achieve the common goal of the organization.
In the case of Vic, he was not able to co-work well with other employees due to his dishonest behavior. In fact, he was always trying to cheat to avoid his responsibilities. In addition, Vic was not able to balance between his work life and family life, which is a very important practice in any business.
Indeed his problems started right at home and dragged into the workplace. Finally, it is important for any business to relate well with the outside environment in what is commonly known as âcorporate social responsibilityâ. Giving back to the community will help to build the reputation of a business in public.
Vicâs remedy
It is very evident that Vic is on a downtrend in his career due to lack professional ethics that he needs to practice both at home and in the workplace. If he has to survive in his career, he needs to drop the queer and unprofessional behaviors he has developed.
First, he has to change his attitude towards work and perform his duties more responsibly. Telling lies and endless excuses will not take him anywhere in his career and therefore, adopting honesty will change his down-sloping trend. He needs to start telling the truth and not lies not only in the work place, but also at home.
Changing jobs or career will not help him much but changing his habits will rescue him. He also needs to learn to co-work with others for the common goals of the organization. Finally, Vic needs to learn how to balance his life at work and at home in a bid to develop in his career.
Conclusion
Business ethics are very important in the success of any business. Practicing honesty in business will attract and retain many customers while cheating will drive them away.
No level of dishonesty is acceptable in business; therefore, leaders and employees ought to be guided by honesty in their personal and business dealings. Vic is an example of how dishonesty or lack of work ethics can retard career development of an individual.
He needs to change his behaviors and develop the necessary work ethics for him to survive in his profession. Finally, all businesses ought to be driven by business ethics such as integrity, teamwork, quality, and many others to retain their customers and thus remain in the market place.